Common vehicle tires—for example, car, truck, and motorcycle tires—have a circumferential tread surface which rides along the ground, with sidewalls extending radially inwardly from the sides of the tread surface. The volume defined radially inwardly from the tread surface, and between the planes of the sidewalls, defines the tire interior wherein any tubes or other inflatable air-retaining chambers, and rims, hubs, and/or other connections to the vehicle, may be fit.
There are presently few uses for used vehicle tires. Since it is difficult to reprocess their constituent parts into virgin materials for manufacture of new tires or other items, tires are frequently recycled by simply grinding them, or otherwise reducing them to smaller parts, and then using these smaller parts as filler materials in building materials, composites, and other items. Otherwise, large sections of tires are sometimes used for playground equipment, shock-absorbing barriers along roadways, and breakwaters and dam components—but there are otherwise few common uses for large sections of tires. As a result, they are often landfilled, which is in the long term problematic because tires are not biodegradable; or alternatively, they may be incinerated, which is also problematic owing to the resulting soot, ash, and other waste products that are generated. It would therefore be valuable to devise other uses for vehicle tires which result in useful articles for consumers and/or industry, and which allow a reduction in the number of used tires in the waste stream.